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I don’t know how it happened but my life has suddenly gotten very busy this fall — in a good way. Busy at work, a bustling social calendar, new hobbies… it’s eating up my time in a way I haven’t lived since college, but it feels pretty awesome.

As a result I of course am leaning on my no-time no-fuss eat-something-for-a-week crutch: the crock pot. This pumpkin chili is quite different than my usual version, adding tons of beans, spice, and leaving out meat altogether. The idea of canned pumpkin in a chili is the thing that drew me to this recipe more than any other (it seems to be quite en vogue this fall on the blogs) and it really does add this great layer of flavor. My friend Sara made this recipe first and lamented the lack of strong pumpkin flavor at the end so I fixed that by stirring in an extra can of pumpkin. It not only thickens the entire batch but really helps the sweet heat flavor. And since I believe stirring a tablespoon of honey into everything makes it better (and it does for this!), I went ahead and added that as well. Sweet heat is one of the best things for fall and this chili does it just right.

Oh, roast chicken leftovers, how I love you so.  Being at a photography shoot the past few days where all we’ve been shooting is picture after picture of gorgeous food (and eating awesome Thai Basil for lunch every day), my guilt over just eating cold chicken with a salad once I got home finally got to me.  Normally I would make a yummy chicken salad and serve it on fluffy, sweet wheat bread, but I saw this on Gourmet a few months ago and thought how it would be something great to do for when I had leftover roast chicken instead of just buying a rotisserie substitute.

Tstasiki is right up there with Dijon mustard in my list of favorite condiments, and despite knowing how easy it was to make, I never actually did it.  The lazier part of me just always picked up a container whenever I was in the store, and frequently my after-work snack is me dipping celery into the container (thankfully I live alone) while I put dishes away and make my lunch for the next day.  Cooling, tart and decadent without the fat, I use it as a sub for mayonnaise in chicken salad (great calorie reducer) and even as a salad dressing.

The tsatsiki is the only ‘recipe’ here, really.  The rest is tossing the chicken with some herbs and oil, adding some veggies and topping everything with the tsatsiki on some pita bread.  It’s a great fast weeknight meal and even better if you have the time to roast some potatoes with oregano alongside it. Otherwise, just enjoy on its own!